Thoughts Untold and Unheard
by SamanthaKasa
Summary: After the disbandment of Generation X, what did happen to the beloved characters, when Sean Cassidy formed X-Corps and when Emma Frost rejoined the X-Men? A closer aspect focusing on both characters' point of views of canon events. Features their former students. Plot is intended to carry out Sean's death and up to his resurrection as Apocalypse Twins' Death and move forward after.
1. Chapter 1

**Abbreviated A/N:**

Any question as to exactly _when_ this chapter is supposed to take place in Marvel Earth-616 universe, I hope the chapter can sufficiently self-explain. If there's still doubt on how this can be seen as fitting within canon, I do have a rather lengthy explanation; at first I intended to put it in the same chapter as Chapter End Note, but because it really is very VERY long, and as I've seen other people doing it on FFN, I've decided to put it all in the next NON-actual-chapter "Chapter"; so for those who have questions please read it, but I really hope people can actually figure out the time line when finish reading the chapter without reading the additional note (chapter) to get the idea.

* * *

><p><strong>A One-sided Conversation<strong>

{... Hey Sean, you're probably wondering why I'm calling you, _again_.} _He's wondering, alright._

{... and how do I know? Ha, besides Charles and that Red Hair, She-Thinks-She's-So-Hot-One-Day-She-Might-Actually-Burn-Herself-to-DEATH, Jean Grey; I _am_ one of the more powerful telepaths there is.} _You don't say._

It had been a couple of weeks, almost a month and a half, since the official disbandment of Generation X. The kids scattered, trying to figure out their own way, and how they would fit into the real world. Sean Cassidy, code-name Banshee, their mentor, seemed fine with their decision, supportive, even; but inside he was in a dark dark place, one that he had yet come out from. He had just lost his long-time lover Moira McTaggert, whom before her own death he hadn't seen or heard from for months; and to add insult to injury, whose death no one even bothered telling him firsthand; his call to Muir Island was redirected to Charles, that's how he bloody found out Moira was gone.

The horrid news could not have come in a worse time. A few days before that, Generation X had just lost one of their own, Synch, the always mature and all-so-kind Everett Thomas. Thus, Sean decided that he couldn't take it, Moira's death atop Everett's was too much for him; so he embraced his sorrow, he embraced alcohol; he didn't even bother hiding it from the students, not really. The Gen X kids however still respected and cared for this some-what fatherly figure of theirs; they told him they "understand", and that maybe it was time that they all try to move on, move forward, but not.. move _together_. It was a very subtle way to say that they didn't need him anymore. So they thought there's nothing more he could teach them. He didn't blame them, not really. Look at him, he was still some-what a drunk, he didn't think parents would appreciate their children being taught by a drunk, hell, he wouldn't even want his own kid, Theresa, seeing himself like this. After a few more days of self pity, Sean decided that if he doesn't teach, he might as well return to his old profession, something he was equally good at,_ or perhaps better at_ (sometimes he wondered): being a cop.

{... He-lloooo? I know we're not really talking, I mean I'm talking to an answering machine for cripes sake, but I know you're there listening, at least for a while, until you got lost in your thoughts, _again_.} _Man, the lass really IS a strong telepath, or was it just a lucky guess?_

It had been about a month since he formed the X-Corps, and not long after he gathered three of his former students, his _angels_, he started getting phone-calls from his former colleague, the former White Queen, the former headmistress of the Massachusetts Academy, Emma Frost.

He never answered of course, though if he were honest, he had tons of questions to ask, for example, how the bloody hell did she get _this_ number? How did she know about X-Corps? He had particularly picked to focus on mutant affairs in Europe, faraway from the X-Men's usual domain; going as far to set the headquarter at Paris, France, instead of his homeland Ireland, just to avoid clashing with the Excalibur, whether the group was still active or not. Even the X-Men didn't know about his involvement until their paths had crossed. Then he would berate himself for thinking of those questions; she had gain back Frost International, and like she just said, she _is_ a powerful telepath; with money, influence and the seemly unlimited ability to read minds, she could easily gain whatever information she wanted. So those were stupid questions, the more pressing problem was, _what did she want?_ What did she think she was doing, or achieving... Calling him, just talking about STUFF, ordinary stuff, like they're friends or something...

_Now, that's just HARSH, even for the likes of you, Cassidy._ He chid himself.

He considered Generation X his family, he would be kidding himself if Emma Frost was not included in this said family. Of course she was. And just like that, all the self-loathing kicked in, like every time it would when his thoughts lingered around her. He watched her, _actually got to know her_, beyond the cold exterior that most people saw. She loved her students, she cared for them so much she would do _anything_ for her students, and she did. It was ironic how, in the last moments of Generation X, the kids claimed they were afraid of Emma, that she was a little scary, that maybe she would go back to being evil. That being said, it was _him_ right now they were keeping an eye on, not Emma. Oh, he knew his former students were skeptical about his ideal, but they joined him anyway, so he pretended they were this happy family again, despite the lack of trust. He wondered perhaps deep down inside they realized Emma did the right thing, or at least the best she could in that particular situation. Killing _is_ wrong, but he really doubted anyone would go against him if he someday does manage to off Black Tom (accident or not), like the way everyone seemed to closely monitor Emma's every single move, waiting to jump for the first opportunity to judge and condemn her.

{... As I was saying, like I've said umpteenth times I called you, just in case you didn't get the message, I'm teaching a new group of students in Genosha, so far none of them are as bright as our Gen X... Great.. Can you believe it? I just said _ours_... anyways... There's no one interested in tech like how Paige is, and no one snotty and fashionable like Monet; good heavens there's no troublemaker like Jubilation or Angelo! There is, however, someone that can win the Most Emo Appearance Award over Jono! She calls herself _Negasonic Teenage Warhead_, god bless her...}

It was times like this that made everything in the real world go away for a brief second, as if they were back in the Massachusetts Academy, late at night, sitting around the kitchen with a cup of tea, him listening to Emma rant. It was times like this Sean would go back wondering just why Emma called in the first place.

{... You're probably still wondering why I _still_ call you, like literally everyday.}

And then Sean realized, maybe it had nothing to do with being a telepath, maybe Emma just really knew him well. He wished it were also true the other way around.

{... Sean, the three girls are with you, and if my intel is correct, so are the X-Men and Jono as of now. The kids trust you more than they ever would trust me, so promise me, just promise me, even in this down and dark moment you seemed to unable, or unwilling, to get yourself out of; don't ever make them do stuff you'll regret making them do, you hear me?}

Ahhh... There it was. That was why she was calling, at least that was why _this_ time. She still cared for her students, _their_ students, even after they walked out on her without a proper good-bye. He wondered if the students knew just how lucky they were, to have someone to care for you so deeply. He wasn't affronted by her request, not that he would ever _force_ his students, but with what his X-Corps was dealing with (not exactly puppies and rainbows; in fact, just the opposite, if there was a saying for that), he could understand her worry; there was also the fact that mutants like Avalanche and Blob were with X-Corps, so of course Emma was concerned.

{... and Sean? When you finally manage to pluck up to courage to actually pick up the damn phone, we could talk, you know, just like old times. _I promise I won't bite_. Until next time then.}

And it was times like this Sean wondered just why he never had the guts to pick up the phone... What exactly was he afraid of? A confrontation? From whom, Emma? More like from _himself_. The idea seemed so ridiculous, but he knew it was on some level very true, he really felt like he _failed_ her in particular, not the students, but Emma; he had let her take on the 'evil' role people perceive her. He always felt that Emma and him weren't particularly close, not as close as it _could have_ gotten, after the rift... The misunderstanding about handing over Penance to Emplate. There was no real closure, only a strong punch (on his face) and some threats (on her part), and some okay-okay-I-understand (his lame attempt on soothing the tension). Just when things were starting to look fine, BAM! School under attack... BAM! A bomb went off killing Synch... BAM! She avenged Synch by murdering her own sister... So much happened so fast, and before any of them really recovered... that phone-call, his damn phone-call that let him learned the truth of Moira's fate. It just seemed like an excuse, albeit probably a good one, still an excuse no less. The kids walked away, well, they _were_ kids...young and all. Sean had also walked away, he was also one, like them, that went without farewell, left the little precious family they built... now so broken and dysfunctional. What was he gonna say _if_, not when, if he did answer her call? Sorry? The unsaid apologization just became harder and harder to act on, the longer it was untaken-care of. Sean smirked to himself bitterly, Emma really did know him well; she said _when_... She didn't push him to become better, get over this brooding state, not really. She did however imply, _when_ he finally got over himself, they could talk, and like go back to the love-hate-we-disagree-on-everything-but-we-still-love-each-other-TOTALLY-ONLY-ON-THE-FAMILY-ASPECT-WAY relationship.

He could totally picture the mischievous smile when she said she wouldn't bite, ha, as if.

Sean's thoughts then went back to what Emma had wanted himself to promise her. True, there _were_ questionable people around his X-Corps, and the people he knew for sure he could trust hadn't outnumbered the dubious ones by much (X-Corps as of now was still a small-sized organization after all, not some big scale frightening army), but he was sure that with himself, Jamie "Multiple Man", Leyu "Sunpyre" (the talented chief researcher), Jared "Radius" (a former Alpha Flight member he was not really all that familiar with but acknowledged), and, of course, Sean's three talented former students, those ex-outlaws would not pose any threats. Plus, if they did, Sean was nothing but careful, he had a secret backup guarantee plan if the situation had to come to that.

"I promise ye, Em, all the dark stuff I do here at X-Corps, I will never make them do anythin' I'll end up regrettin' makin' them do, that I promise ye."

He said after the message end and the answering machine became dead silent, wishing he had been able to actually let her hear his respond.

"I promise ye..."

* * *

><p><strong>A Real Conversation<strong>

_~So... um... This really is just like a Generation X reunion of some sort... Are **Ms. Frost** and **Angelo** here as well? Is **Penance** here, too?~_

Jonothon "Jono" Starsmore, code-name Chamber, commented, trying to come off brightly, although actually coming out somewhat awkwardly. He had just been led by his former teacher into this room of his former classmates, and after a short talk, he still had some problem adjusting to the situation.

"Nah, like we said, Banshee contacted us individually, and come on, do you really expect Angelo agreeing to be called _'Banshee's angel'_? The idea of it is just so wrong on so many levels! He's back in LA taking care of the apartment we rent together and doing whatever it is he does to, you know, survive? I mean like... what's the phrase... earn a living you know... in the real world?" Jubilation Lee, reminding anyone who cared or cared not to listen that her name was to be shortened as Jubilee, answered swiftly, having no problem keeping the conversation going. "and Ha, you _would_ think this X-Corps has something to do with Frostie, seemly evil and all,"

_~Uh... No... That's not what I meant...~_

"But like we said, it's just us, and you know, that ghost presence feeling I told you about. I was actually surprised when I didn't find Frostie here, don't know where she is... Same goes for Penny." Jubilee went on as if not hearing Jono's small protest.

"Um... if anyone _actually does care_ to know where Ms. Frost is and what she's doing... I asked Banshee about her a few days ago and he told me she's in Genosha teaching another bunch of students. I don't know how he knows or if the information is correct, at least that's what he said she's doing." Paige Guthrie contributed, seemly taking a defending stance somehow. She knew Emma had insisted them calling her by her first name instead of how students usually call their teacher, she guessed it was supposed to make them feel familiarity with being less formal, but seeing how Generation X still ended up being suspicious of Emma, Paige couldn't help referring her as Ms. Frost; the title held some form of respect she thought Emma at least deserved.

They all looked at each other, after a short pause, Monet St. Croix, nicknamed by them as M, burst "Frost still teaching? When will she stop corrupting innocent children with evil thoughts?"

Another brief pause, and then, they all laughed out loud together. Emma Frost teaching, it was good to know some things never change.

"... She wasn't _that_ bad... you know... I'm sure she cared for us in her own... um... way." Paige said quietly after the laughter died down, almost looking a little bit uncomfortable, and just a bit pleading looking.

_~I never thought she was evil or anything... I mean she WAS I guess (I wouldn't personally know, but I've heard it all from you guys), but I've never considered her continuing to be, not after she started teaching us at least; just to be clear, on my part.~_ Understanding Paige's earlier defend-like mode, Jono hurriedly explained.

"You do realize I was joking about the corrupting innocent children part?" M said impatiently.

Silence.

"Okay, guess not. Fine, I guess it makes sense since I was the one who outed her as being evil and can't be trusted in the first place." Monet said, with a frown on her beautiful face, started pacing and continued, "I don't think I'll go back and say I was overreacting back then; like what do you expect, I just saw her doing some real damage to an innocent person, possibly murdering said person, and why? Only because he questioned her, and with questions he actually did have rights to ask. Maybe she didn't kill him, maybe he lived, maybe he was fine afterwards, but how would I know? I was too damn scared 'cause from what I saw, he seemed like he was foaming, meaning he looked like he was already fucking brain-dead, so I ran away to you guys, and shared everything I saw, or at least what I thought I saw. "

"The thing is, if I had known the guy was alright later on, I would have probably been okay with the whole incident; the fact however, was I didn't know, and still is scared to know. I understand that she was trying to protect the school, but what made me afraid was the power she held and what she could do to achieve whatever she wanted to accomplish, what she could do to _us_. Understand even in my mind the sentence was 'what she _could_ do to us' not 'what she _would_ do to us', it still scared me, I'm not even ashamed of admitting it, and that was why I acted the way I did."

"It took me a while to realize the flaw of my thoughts, that what she could do, she however would _never_ do us; because simply, I'm not stupid, I'm pretty sure I'm the smartest of us all, and of course I know Frost... Emma, cares about us, loves us even; she would never hurt us willingly, lethally anyways. Not unless it was some punishment we deserve or some tough-love exercise. Just to be clear, on my part" She finished her speech by quoting Jono's statement, after the uncharacteristically long confession.

_~Crystal.~_

"Well, that sure as hell clarifies a lot!" Jubilee exclaimed. "I see the whole incident pretty much like M does, I mean, come on, I've been with the X-Men before _us_ even happened, I've seen some _real_ evil and Frostie's not even near being close. I've heard about the fiasco when her consciousness was in Iceman's body and how she had a breakdown after learning the Hellions were gone, and seen how devastated she was and just quiet for a long time since then; so yeah, I know how protective she could be for her next set of students... which was us. I just like to mess with her, you know... 'cause it was fun. But I know she's just all sass and talk, not evil. We're all good now? Paige?"

"... Yeah, we're all good. Phew... You know I seriously thought I was the only one _kind of_ missing Ms. Frost..."

"Waddaya know? We really don't give her enough credit to begin with."

"I'll have you know that I, also _kind of_ miss Ms. Frost, she is after all, the only one besides me that has taste and class and all..."

_~and the ability to cook the worldwide famous **sentient omelet**?~_ Jono might not have been there personally during the particular event, but he had heard enough about it, and judging by how adamant his classmates had been about keeping Ms. Frost _away_ from the kitchen, and how terrified when she was _not_, he couldn't resist bring up the omelets.

They all shuddered.

And then laughed.

Those omelets did a wonderful job to scar people for life, but it was still something they could laugh about at the end of the day, some good old times.

_~This... Feels nice... Getting together... and stuff.~_

"Yeah, we should like totally do this more often!"

"Maybe we'll do it again some other time after this whole gig is done then?"

"Sounds good to me."

_~Alright, I'll leave you ladies for now and go check on the area you talked about, laters!~_


	2. Extended AN 1

This is something you obviously DO NOT _HAVE_ TO read, but if you feel like asking questions, I'd be appreciated if you at least try finding the answers here first. =]

**Extended A/N:**

_1. Time-line of the story?_

Right, first of all, technically this really shouldn't be placed under a crossover of Generation X and X-Men, as by the time the events mentioned in this story took place in canon, there was "Generation X" title no more, and all the characters involved were thrust into X-Men titles. Why did I do it? A slightly detailed explanation is below, in short, I strongly feel that only people who had read Generation X or at least had some basic knowledge of it, could appreciate or begin to understand what this fic about and where it came from; so after a few internal debates, even if it might result in no one reading this, I still picked this category.

Okay, for die-hard X-title readers (which I'm not claiming to be, I just happen to like to do my homework well) , you'll probably pick on the fact that the X-Corps story arc (mainly UXM 401-406, written by Joe Casey) was published a few months **_after_** the story arc E is for Extinction (NXM 114-116, written by Grant Morrison) was; the later mentioned arc confirmed Emma teaching in Genosha, and soon the nation was mostly wiped out. So how do I justify by stating Emma and Sean's one-sided convo is possible, when by the time readers read X-Corps, they had also read that Emma already left Genosha and joined the X-Men? I think it's safe to say that, just because two story arcs are published around the same time, doesn't mean they actually have to be happening simultaneously in the comic world; otherwise Wolverine would have be in so many different places at the exact same time. Therefore, vice versa, because of the different length of each arc, what comes later comparing to an arc featured in a different title, doesn't necessary mean it happened chronologically afterwards.

The main big story arc before X-Corps in UXM was Poptopia (mainly 395-398) which was X-Men's official recruit of Chamber; the arc itself should take 3 days at most in the comic world (my opinion at least), but with 4 chapters, you see how X-Corps was pushed back, and Poptopia was published right around the same time E is for Extinction did. So if you consider how short amount of time Poptopia happened in the comic world, X-Corps could just squeeze in right before events in E is for Extinction happened. And let's be honest, excluding #401, which was kind of like the back story on how Banshee started X-Corps, pretty much 402-406 all went down within the same day in the comic world. You can argue that what I have in mind is an altered timeline etc, but I stand by what I said, it really could have happened had the writers thought about it, so I still think it's canon off-panel-ish possible. Um yeah, so there's that. I pictured the one-sided convo happened right after Sean led Jono to meet his angels =P. As for Gen X's reunion convo, I pictured it as a continuation of their talk that was shown in the comic, **so pretty much the entire chapter takes place during UXM #403**, and both conversations took place around the same time, just different places.

_2. Is there a pairing for this story? Where is the story heading exactly?_

To answer those, unfortunately I feel like expressing a more fundamental reason as to why I even started writing this fic in the first place. Why am I so bent on arguing it could be possible and wanting their one-sided convo to be real? This is going to be a very long explanation, and I promise there is a point, please bare with me. I first got into reading X-Men by accident, I _watched_ the motion comics of Joss Whedon's Astonishing X-Men, and loved every single bit of it. I looked it up and realized he meant for it as a continuation of Grant Morrison's NEW X-MEN, so I read that as well. And because I was interested in the background characters (mainly the students) in AXM, I also went reading New Mutants v2, and NXM: Academy X (later on NXM v2) and that lead to Messiah CompleX, which finally forced me to read and catch on with most of the related X-titles (team-titles published after 1990).

My point is, through out all what I had read, I love Emma's character, but it wasn't doing much comparing to before as to right now in the more recent stories, it was just somewhat lacking and a bit sad =/. And to be honest, I really did like Emma and Scott being together, especially during Whedon's run, but right now RIGHT NOW, the same spark is just not there anymore, which is why I sought out fanfiction... Imagine my surprise when I saw a bunch of Emma and Sean fic. I was like, wth? It just seemed so out of the blue. Not getting the pairing, and running out of Emma canon appearances in comics to read, I finally went to read what I was kind of avoiding: Generation X. And then I get it. But people, do you understand what I'm trying to say? If you had never read Gen X, it is almost impossible to think this shipping even exists! For more than 4 real-world-years (while Sean was still alive in the comic world) there was no single hint that they even knew each other! I finally read Deadly Genesis when I started writing this story, at least it showed Emma stated the X-Men also lost one of their best friends (Sean), but honestly before that particular sentence, readers who picked up X-titles after Gen X ended, would not have known they had any sorts of relationship at all, unless they looked it up. I think that itself is just wrong on so many level, so many canon potential going to waste. That is why I pictured what I wrote happened off-panel. Emma once complained that Sean didn't call, well, now she can do the calling.

I guess you can also kind of tell I'm hell-bent on the Gen X convo, or else why would I even bother writing it? The student-teacher relationship of Gen X and Emma is also soooooooo omitted later on that I again think it just isn't right. Really, you suddenly get a class reunion and nobody mentioned the lady with the most presence even when she's not there? I just think it's so unlikely, given they had a rather bitter fallout. What Monet said was obviously what I think she would have said, had this situation actually happened. I just feel like they had to give some thought about the fallout and then talked about it, rather than just completely act as if the fallout never bloody happened. I'm not saying that they should be super friendly with each other, but bickering in a way that shows affection on some level would have been nice.

Back to the question, shipping, right. This is going to sound another level of ridiculousness, but I wouldn't go as far as saying I'm barking mad... The truth? I'm not sure. It all started out as a simple idea, a WHAT IF. After reading Generation X, I honestly understand where Sean/Emma shipping was coming from, and would like to have seen it happen even, but for me personally, the relationship simply wasn't there yet when the title got canceled. A crap load of potential, but never really happened in canon thus far. I don't know what happened to the fans who used to support this ship (as while it was popular, the only thing I read was manga and had never leafed through a single comic), it seems like they either all give up, or pretend NXM never happened, OR establish Emma and Scott's relationship being loveless and purely beneficial. For the last account, I'm not against the idea, I think it is interesting and definitely possible, but I find it a bit discouraging when the scenario is almost all I see when I search for Sean/Emma, and I find it very peculiar that no one has tried to write a fic about them during NXM period. No one had tried to make it work (or at least I couldn't find it), and shortly after House of M, Deadly Genesis took place and made shipping them 10 times harder with one of them dead. One thing for sure, I can tell you right here and right now, this fic WILL NOT bash on Scott/Emma. That, however, is not to say that Sean is just the third-wheel; like stated in the summary, I fully intend to follow canon event at least up till he gets resurrected, and by then, unfortunately Scott/Emma canon no more. And why even when I clearly envision this do I still not know the pairing? A part of me would really REALLY like Scott fix it and make up with Emma (what canon is obviously NOT doing), the other part of me is like, well, canon Scott, thanks for all the non-appreciation, now Sean's back, let's give that a try instead. So yeah, I honestly don't know and think either way could go well if handled right, and there's the everyone stays single, open ending solution, I also don't mind that. I don't know if I'd be upsetting anyone by saying this, seriously this fic is very experimental for me. I'd love to have the 2 alternative story lines, 3 even, but I can't say I have to ability and time to see through them to the end. They as of now are just ideas.

_3. Am I taking this fic seriously? Like what kind of writer doesn't know their own fics' ship and ending?  
>And what's with all the grammar errors?<span>_

Yes, it's probably just me getting super defensive to even write this down, but I still feel like saying it, as I'd like to make it perfectly clear as to what is to expect of me. I AM NOT A WRITER. Sure, I can write; I can also talk, but that doesn't make me a public speaker. The type of thinking came from when I majored in Graphic Design, I was, and still am, very appalled when whoever knew the BASIC ideas of how to use InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop, proudly call themselves Graphic Designers. In some cases it may be true, but it rarely is, and I find exclaiming the statement so casually is actually very insulting to the field of expertise. This, however, is not an excuse for me to write extremely poorly, or just being overly modest in a disgusting way; I'm just saying this in case people ever think 'this is so unprofessional', guess what? This is a site for FANFICs, but that being said, I have read some seriously pro-looking fics, which is why this whole section is here, you probably should not expect that from me; I'm not just selling myself short to look good later, I do know I have very limited vocabulary, and like I said in the previous section, I honestly wrote this because I'd like this IDEA to happen and see how it plays out, just that I haven't seen it been done. I can't guarantee that this will turn into some thing full and finished, which in a way can be seen as irresponsible, I, however, can say that, while I'm at it, I do take it seriously and reread it tons of times before actual posting. People make mistake, if you see one, let me know, if I find it reasonable, I would gladly make changes ASAP.

_4. Continuity? X-Corps?_

I don't know where to look up what the earliest story arcs X-titles fic readers generally recognized. It's safe to say that, although I've personally not read all of it (I started UXM from #250), pretty much EVERYTHING prior to X-Corps is completely within canon continuity, I find no necessary reasons to change anything. I don't know if X-Corps is memorable for most readers, if you don't know or don't remember this arc, it's nothing to worry about, as the event itself will only take place between this chapter and the next. For me personally (can't say it for others), the reason why this arc stood out so much, was that it was the LAST major appearance of Sean before his death; so to me, there's nowhere else better to start the fic, really, or else I'll just be completely making stuff up. Like I said earlier, I actually reread quite a few times before posting it (1st chapter written in mid June), the details of X-Corps' inner workings were actually only added right being posting. I originally just have a section in the next chapter, but I figured, maybe there _are_ people who aren't familiar with the arc (it is after all more than 10-real-world-years-old), so hopefully you'd get what was going on back then.

_5. Emma? Or Ms. Frost?_

Paige's internal exclaim was also a last minute addition. I feel like depending on _where_ you start reading X-titles, you may have very different opinion on the matter. At first, like I said, I came across it through motion comics, and it held great impact on me, the way the Stepford Cuckoos say 'Ms. Frost' was just heavily imprinted in my brain; thus when I then read her insisting being called 'Emma' by Hisako "Armor" in AXM (Warren Ellis run) and Megan "Pixie" in UXM (Matt Fraction run), I actually saw it quite OOC back then. It was only after a more thorough reading that I realized she did indeed also offer the same to the new Hellions upon first meeting up, only that for some reason (at least for Cessily "Mercury") they ended up still calling her Ms. Frost. I don't know if it were like this with the Original Hellions (nope, haven't read), but it was the same with Generation X, and I feel like it may be something easily overlooked. She does not want to be simply seen as an authority figure by the students, make no mistake that she definitely _is_ one, but her actions show that she generally wants to get to know them and care for them, she is not just some bitch on her high horse, not unless she was already seen that way. Agree or disagree, I'm fine with both.

14/09/04  
>Sammm<p> 


	3. Chapter 2

**Abbreviated A/N:**

Sean and Emma would physically cross paths soon, unfortunately not in this chapter, but SOON. This time there is an unarguable time-line altering fans may easily pick up; again, I have my reasons, and among other things, another NON-actual-chapter "Chapter" would soon follow, so for those who have questions please read it! =]

* * *

><p><strong>In the Hospital, with Thoughts and Visitors<strong>

All hell broke lose, literally.

Sean didn't know how he kid himself that he could manage or control the situation. He was desperate, maybe, but he usually wasn't delusional, apparently he _was_ when he formed X-Corps.

Not long after Emma's daily call, and that he promised he would never make their students do things he would later on regretting letting them do, an incident happened in Zürich. X-Corps handled it just fine, the X-Men (although still skeptical) were also somewhat fine, until things got, well, not fine. They got back to X-Corps Headquarters, only finding a sense of 'off'ness, so he told them the big secret: he was using Martinique Jason, one of the daughters of the original Mastermind, Jason Wyngarde, to control the ex-villains. Of course the X-Men didn't take this well, on the other hand, Jono still went missing, _and_ atop that, the girls found poor Sunpyre dead. While the X-Men went to take matters into their own hand (with things getting even worse when another incident happened considerably closer, near their Headquarters), Sean went to investigate the situation himself, later joined by Jamie (or perhaps his dupe), and got the exact same treatment poor Leyu had: a clean cut on the throat, thanks to bloody Mystique faking to be Jamie. That was how he learned the thing started in Paris started inside his own X-Corps, bleeding almost to death on the floor, listening to Mystique talk.

Some villains are always just going to be villains. _Not all, but some._ So the cat was out of the bag, Mystique also found out about Martinique Jason and turned all the evil people he hired back, well, to evil. How he ever convinced himself that it would work he wouldn't know, maybe it was seeing how flawless Emma could make people do, using mind manipulation... _Don't be ridiculous, this is all you, it has nothing to do with Emma._ He could remember perfectly how he chid himself back then, so ashamed of forming that thought, and with all the recent events and losts, he thus even contemplated for a brief second to let Abyss just suck him away to god-knows-where, an even more cowardly move. He was only saved by his former students, whom again had just visited him at the hospital, and were now right outside his room; he could even hear them talk.

_~You think he's gonna be alright?~_

_Thank God Jono survived._ Although the question wasn't directed to him, Jono's telepathy was still strong enough to be heard within distance, and Sean really did thank God that Jono lived after the whole catastrophe. He really didn't think he could live with himself had Jono died because of his stupidity of hiring villains.

"He'll be fine! He's tough, remember? Just give him time." Jubilee said, somewhat laid-back.

"...So what now? Monet has already left... It seemed like our little family's falling apart again..."

"Oh come on Hayseed! Even real family don't glue to each other 24/7! And it's not like we're never ever getting together again"

_~So what you saying, girl? You're gonna stay with us in the X-Mansion, be with X-Men, like you always talked about? ~_

"Nah, like I said, even family have some breaks within their member. Not that I'm tired of you guys or anything, it's just that Ange came up with this road-trip idea, and you know, it just sounds so exciting! I'm going, end of topic. We'll keep in touch, alright? And after we're done with the trip we can visit and get together again."

"Promise to keep us updated?"

_~Don't be a stranger, okay, girl?~_

"I promise!"

Sean could hear them gradually walking away, and he wondered if he could really eventually be like what Jubilee pictured him: fine, given more time, tough... He really didn't feel tough right now, he felt lost... useless... and again the sense of failure. He sighed, feeling embarrassed of having his former students witnessing his mess-up and his current lousy state, yet on the other hand, he was extremely thankful for the X-Men's decision of moving him to Westchester with them once his condition was stable. He had no illusion that what really prompted them this choice was to keep a closer eye on him, as they had voiced concern about his lashing behavior when he was commanding his X-Corps, but he didn't mind. They wouldn't understand that, at that time, he himself was extremely anxious; he had just made a promise to Emma! Nothing should go wrong, he had to make sure of that! But that was still no excuse for him to word his order so harshly, and he did regret it in instantly after the words left his mouth. Whatever the reason was, he was still glad of being close to his... family of sorts; he was sure that had he been left alone back in Paris, he would bound to end up self-pitying and doing nothing constructive. At least here, he would get to see his former students more often, and he was sure to be less lonely...

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

_What the..._

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

_Do Patient Rooms usually have phones even?_

He was so startled that he forgot that they _do_, it is the cellular phone that is not allowed in the Patient Rooms.

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

_And why would anybody call him anyway? It's not like he could talk... Vocal cord damaged and all..._

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**-*_BEEP_*-

Sean wasn't sure if he could be more amazed beyond that, he decided he wasn't even going to bother questioning if it was normal to have an answering machine set up in a Patient Room. _Not even going to bother questioning._

{... Hello Sean, it took me longer to get the number this time, but here I am, calling you _again_.} _Nope, He's not even going to bother wondering HOW she manage to leave a message for him — while he himself just so happened to be in the room and able to listen to it in real time. Just leave it as a coincidence, nothing more._

{... I know you're probably alone in the Patient Room sulking and all,} _Say what? He did not sulk, he brooded, very manly._

{... thinking that you failed and X-Corps turn into shambles,} _Duh, the whole world knows this, his daughter probably heard of it by now._

{... but hey, I heard what really happened to X-Corps, is that Charles merged it with the Paris Branch of his X-Corporation; that's something, isn't it?} _Sure, that'll cheer him up. NOT._

{... What I'm trying to say is, well, at least some part of your vision lives on, right? Maybe not as _intense_ as the way you prefer, but at least you're not alone, that someone shares your view.} _... Was it just him or did she sound a bit longing?_

{... and let's be honest, hiring _known_ viciously destructive villains? Not the brightest idea you had, I must say.} _Don't remind him. EVER._

{... but I feel like you have to know, it's not your fault that it went down like that,} _Oh? How so?_

{... because although you did hire some questionable people, I know you didn't hire Mystique on purpose. _She did this, not you._} _Well... but he..._

{... You can obviously argue that _you_ let her have the opportunity to do it, but really? You're going to cry over spoilt milk? What good does that do you, beating over yourself for what's already been done? _Nothing._ So do everybody a favor and quit blaming and feeling sorry for yourself. And to be honest, I understand where you were coming from and where you thought you were going, the plan was not _that_ terrible, it was just not fully realized. My advice, next time you want to mind control people, you should work with a mind controller that's a hundred percent on your side. I'm not volunteering or anything, my occupation and real love is being a teacher and all, just saying. Don't be so harsh on yourself.}

Sean didn't really know what to think, the idea that Emma actually thought his plan might have gone somewhere was somewhat disturbing. Just a little bit.

{... Anyways, I wish you're vocal cord can make a full recovery, you do have a rather nice voice,} _Aww, listen to that, she's actually complementing him!_

{... not that you're going to pick up the phone and actually talk to me, but you know, then you can at least talk to the kids. Continue to look after them, will you? I know at least a few are still staying close.} _Of course he will, he still cared for the kids._

{... Right, there's nothing new going around on my side, so I guess until next time then.} _Until next time._

* * *

><p><strong>RINGGGGGGGGGG<strong>

Angelo Espinosa was dead.

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

Crucified on the X-Men's very own front lawn.

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

Jubilee nearly did not survived.

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**-*_BEEP_*-

Sean sat on his hospital bed, feeling numb, not knowing what else to think, other than _at least someone bothered telling him this time, Angelo was his former student after all._ It was just one day, Paige dropping by, telling him they realized they lost touch with Jubilee and Skin for quite some time, perhaps a week. This was a little unusual for the talkative Chinese-American girl who loved to share her experience and adventures with her friends. However, nobody really thought anything of it. They all thought those two were probably having the time of their lives and just lost track of time. And a few days after that, Paige visited again, accompanied by Jono, to deliver the news, shaking uncontrollably the entire time.

{... Oh God... Sean... Angelo...}

Sean could hear the anguish in Emma's voice, and as the silence hung, he heard some faint sobs as well. He knew Emma kept tabs with her students, former or not. To learn that another of their Gen X kids had died, and in such a cruel way, he knew she must have felt devastated, like a part of themselves died as well, like what he was feeling right now.

Skin. Gone.

Angelo was the definition of life; he was always so full of energy, bright ideas, pranks, smiles and laughter. And now his life was taken away. Sean couldn't help thinking that this was somehow his fault, if only he had managed X-Corps another way, and maybe back then Angelo would have joined his crew, and things would have all turned out differently... Anything would have been better than _this_. Tears leaked down the edge of his face. If only he could spare him this terrible fate.

{... Oh Sean, I can't imagine what you're thinking right now... besides the obvious pain and distraught... but _please_, do not consider yourself possibly responsible for this.} _Here it goes again, Emma assuring him that whatever it is was not his fault._

{... The damn Church of Humanity is, and they'd pay.} _They did, Jono informed him that the X-Men took care of what was left of them in Montana, the hate group was done, at least for now; but so what? They took away Angelo, and he's not coming back._

{... We'll get through this, Sean, we'll get through this.}

Sean didn't know if she was trying to convince him or herself.

{... Until next time then.}

* * *

><p>Sean had been in the hospital for almost two months, and he was heading towards a full recovery; not there yet, but almost. Emma still phoned him regularly the entire time of his stay; either during her lunch breakafter-class on weekdays, or brunch/afternoon-tea-time on weekends. The time difference made him receive the voice messages at odd hours, but she was the one spending money on the daily long-distance call, so he didn't feel like complaining (in order to do that, he would have to call back!). He appreciated her updates, no matter how unimportant the info may seem. He felt he was deeply cared by someone, a friend perhaps, that they were eager to share their experience with him. In this case, Emma really was that friend. It was kind of sad that besides Paige (and occasionally Jono, they mostly visit him separately though; their relationship didn't seem as close after they left school, Sean didn't know the exact detail and didn't feel that it was his business to ask), the only people he interacted with were nurses and doctors while they examined his condition.

He hadn't really heard much from his daughter, and the X-Men, well... they had their hands full ever other day, plus, they were still a bit wary of him after the whole X-Corps incident, so he didn't blame them for not visiting after the two times they had (the very first time dropping him at the hospital in Paris, and then when moving him to Westchester.) The only time he felt reconnected to the outside world again was during the X-Men's second visit; they informed him Black Tom had resurfaced and now resembled a vampire tree. The story was a bit confusing, but he gathered that because of Tom's newly weird sucking power, Warren, code-name Archangel reverting back to Angel, got rid of the blueish-look of Apocalypse's four horsemen, as he was attacked by his cousin. He had kept an eye on any suspicious looking trees since then. Other then that odd piece of information, and later on the tragic news of Angelo's death, his days at the hospital were without any drama. He was thus definitely grateful for Emma's daily calls, and they sure caused him having all sorts of warm and fuzzy feelings; though he had yet answered her, as he could still barely speak (at least that was what he reasoned with himself).

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

_Ahh... (Mentally) speaking of the devil!_ Sean smiled upon hearing the initial rang.

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

His grin quickly turned into a slight frown, as he remembered it was a normal school day, and it wasn't a Genoshan national holiday, either.

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**

It was currently around 9 a.m. here, so it was 4 p.m. there, a bit late for lunch, and Emma told him from 3 to 5 o'clock she had extra study and training session for her students... Maybe this was someone else calling? Or perhaps school got canceled altogether?

**RINGGGGGGGGGG**-*_BEEP_*-

{... Hey Sean, you're probably wondering why I'm calling you, _particularly at this time of the day,_ when I'm supposed to be in class with my students.} _He's wondering, alright._ Sean couldn't help noticing the similar opening sentence she gave him over more than a month ago, just before X-Corps went down; suddenly he had a bad feeling about what he was going to hear.

{... Well, technically I am _indeed_ in class _with_ my students, but I don't think teaching should be my top priority at this moment.} He could hear panic and frantic screams in the background, and what sounded like explosion or some sort of collision, along with Emma ordering her students to stay away from the windows.

{... Anyways, I figure this is probably the last time I'd be able to call you, so here I am, calling you... just... take care of them, for me, okay? And I just want to tell you, I've always—} His heart sunk. Emma had never finished her message without the infamous _'Until next time then'_ line. The call was cut off, and from her tone, sounding like she wouldn't survive whatever the bloody hell was happening, asking him to look after their Gen X kids on her behalf, he was really afraid of finding out what was going on, but he couldn't afford not to.

Sean cursed himself for switching to a less equipped room; true, it was logical that since he thought he was going to be released soon, there would be no need to spend the extra money on luxuries such as a _television_. He wasn't completely broke per se, but he couldn't afford casually throwing away money, either, as he wasn't exactly getting _paid_ during his time being an X-Man or a teacher to the X-Men-To-Be. Now the inconvenience without a TV showed, of course he could always read the newspapers, but no bloody newspaper could tell him what was happening in Genosha _right now_, and he wanted to know it right NOW. There was also no radio in his room. DAMMIT!

The good thing was that being close to full recovery, Sean was not physically restricted to his room, and he at least knew one easy place to find a TV: the seating area where patients wait until it was their turn to meet the doctor for diagnosis. He had no idea whether what was happening in Genosha was major enough to be a breaking news and reported live, but he just had the feeling that it _was_; a cop's gut instinct or not, Emma was usually calm and collective, and from what he heard, the situation got her quite shaken up as well. Whatever it was, it must be something _big_.

By the time he got to the public area, he quickly observed the people that had their eyes on the large screen: some had their hands covering their mouths, some looked horrified, some as if not really comprehending what was going on and confused, and some... with a violent glee showing in their eyes. He didn't hesitate to turn his attention to the TV, and braced himself for whatever he was about to discover, but he was not ready for _it_. The channel was indeed broadcasting live news, but he doubted he would _ever_ be prepared for what he was seeing. A giant, weirdly built, insect-shaped Sentinel was attacking the entire island. The detail of the damage was unclear, as it was obvious that the camera filming was shooting from above, probably in a helicopter, and for the reporter and crew's safety, they were well away from the mass killing machine; but the general idea was clear enough: the thing was butchering everything and everyone that was unfortunately being in Genosha right now, including Emma and her students...

Sean's eyes never left the screen, he desperately wished what was shown weren't real, and then got to realistic thinking, hoping that some national Air Force, ANY national Air Force would intervene soon... What was the closest country near Genosha? Wakanda? The Black Panther probably would be willing to help, but did they even have Air Force, or whatever strong enough to defeat _that_ lethal Sentinel...? What other countries... In his frantic thoughts, Sean realized another downside: Genosha was largely consisted of mutant residence; he was sure there were non-mutant occupants as well, but for a nation that its most population was in fact mutant, with the ever current anti-mutant tendencies, it just made the chances of rescue even slimmer.

He had no idea how long he had been staring at and standing in front of the television, hours perhaps. No help came to Genosha, not until the rampant thing had stopped were there confirmation of medical teams on the way to help _what was left_. What _was_ there left? So far there were only deaths, Magneto, for one; Sean spared no further thoughts on that matter, he just couldn't let himself believe that someone like _him_ would ever be gone. It was estimated at least 16 millions had died, and still with no surviver being reported thus far. Sean was pale, and his throat tight and dry. How could this have happened? WHY could this have happened! And he had never answered her calls... He had never picked up or returned a single call! Sure, there were plenty of disagreements and small fights between them, but there were tons of more than pleasant moments as well... All his gratitude and appreciation towards her while they worked together, and how he enjoyed her messages via answering machine after they parted ways... He never got to tell her. He thought there would always be _some day_ when he does get to thank her. He'd never thought it'd be like this. He'd never thought... That was it. He didn't THINK! Or else why did he not take action and express himself! WHY!

Sean lost it. Because of his cowardice and stupidity, he had never hurried to make up with his former comrade, ally, and companion of two years, and now it seemed that he would never be able to. He let out a cry full of anger towards himself. It was a broken howl, and it shattered the television screen; it didn't show him what he was looking for, so what did he care if he damaged it? WHY did this have to happen! Just when he thought everything was looking good... Just when he thought there were still hope in his life! Like how the reality tore him apart, his yell ripped open the yet-to-be-fully-healed wound. He could feel the pain, but what he felt in his throat paled in comparison with what he felt in his heart. How he wished he were numb, so that he wouldn't feel this grave despair! The pain was too much, literally; lucky for him, heavens seemed to take pity on him and granted his wish, he soon felt no more as the world went black.


	4. Extended AN 2

**Extended A/N:**

_1. What's with altering canon continuity?_

It actually has the same reason as to why I was adamant of finding a leeway to fit X-Corps before E is for Extinction, just that this time, unfortunately, even in canon, although Emma also didn't physically appear in the arc, wordings of certain dialogs gave evidence that she had indeed rejoined the X-Men by then. Before going to details on that matter, I just hope I did just on recapping the events of X-Corps. I did throw in a little of my own take on Sean's reasoning, however. I don't know how other people view his actions, but I find it a really drastic change for a guy like him, who guarded his thoughts strongly and disapproved of any telepathic manipulation, to embrace mind-controlling some criminals. Wiki just summed it up as he was a broken man and was possibly suffering from a breakdown. For me, even if those circumstances were true, he had to have this elaborate idea from somewhere, maybe not from Emma, perhaps it was Charles himself, but we would never know, as before we could see more of what was going on in his head, he disappeared in canon.

The undeniable time-line altering is the events of Holy War (mainly UXM 423-424, written by Chuck Austen) when several mutants got crucified on the X-Men's front lawn. I honestly thought I could get away with it, until rereading the arc even more closely, and saw that Logan, out of fright of seeing Jubilee hanging there among the others, had called for Xorn (Magneto-Xorn, later on with the worst confusing retcon ever). Had he simply called for any healer it would have been fine, but Xorn was someone they met after Emma rejoining the X-Men. Honestly, in this arc, there's actually a little giveaway of Xorn's true identity when Jean said she couldn't reach him telepathically, indicating the helmet Xorn was wearing actually blocks out thoughts; however, this ingenious hint kind of gone wasted once Marvel decided to establish that Xorn was not the real Magneto. Well, I guess it doesn't matter who was wearing the helmet, it successfully fooled everyone of his malicious thoughts. Anyways, back to topic, Xorn actually wasn't the only reason that gave the time-line away, a few chapters earlier there were references of the riot happening in the school, also something that happened while Emma was there.

So with multiple things unable to fit in, I still decided to do it? WHY? Really, the exact reason I'm firm on having X-Corps happening before the destruction of Genosha, because I find it EXTREMELY absurd that Emma would be absence during both incidents. Sure, the parting with Generation X wasn't exactly nice, but a former colleague was in the hospital, with more than three of her former students looking after him, and she was nowhere to be seen? I find it unlikely for her to miss the chance of reconnecting. What's worse with Holy War was that one of her former students actually DIED, and yet instead of her showing up, they put Logan, Scott and Jean (who like Emma, were all mainly starring in NXM that time) on the mission. What happened to Angelo was just gwad awful, but besides him, you don't need to remind me, Jubilee AND Amara "Magma" also went through the same thing, both also were Emma's former students. I find her not being around, and not voicing to go on the mission to avenge her ex-students, highly OOC. Sure, she could totally have visit Jubilee and Amara in the infirmary off-panel, but what's the point? It's those golden opportunities being missed that pissed me off, people would just gradually forget that Emma has ever cared for Generation X (which is probably what most people had done).

So yeah, I figured just moving the incident ahead of time before Emma had physically rejoined the X-Men would be more appropriate and appealing. **For people who are okay with this, let's just all pretend that during this specific arc, Logan called out for another healer, not Xorn**. I guess for people who really mind keeping canon continuity, you can simply skip through that section if it bothers you, though you'd have to also ignore some of the conversations in later chapters. Holy War only has two chapters but it marked the end of another Generation X member, for people who aren't familiar with the arc, there's actually quite a few heartbreaking, tear-generating stories on this site from Jubilee, Jono, and Angelo's point of views, highly recommended reading them!

_2. Paige and Jono?_

Before answering that, I might as well bring up that, yes, I know before Holy War, Dominant Species took place (mainly UXM 417-420, written by Chuck Austen) in which Paige was SUPPOSED to have come close to losing her life. I left it out without having Emma calling and fretting over Paige's safety, not because I don't acknowledge it happening, just that even though Angel made a big deal of himself endangering Paige's life, I personally think that comparing to the crucifix where several actually did die, this is something less grave that I don't have to include, as I don't intend to recount everything that has happened after X-Corps. Also keep in mind that the incident itself was not totally canon accurate, as Paige had successfully turned into diamond form back in Generation X's days; whether without her doing so was to avoid clashing with Emma's new ability, or the writer simply overlooked, it matters not, as to me Paige was simply in no real danger. End of story.

So yeah, back to topic, this also brings up the seemingly VERY unpopular idea of Warren and Paige. My only source of people's reaction is the Internet, and from what I've read, people were hating it. I don't know, I thought if the whole argument was about age difference, it seemed rather weak. I didn't mind it, Chuck Austen wasn't the one that broke Warren and Betsy up, so if it was fans of this shipping hating, they should blame that certain _someone_ who actually did it. Austen only tried to make Warren move on, a very human thing to do, it just kind of sucks that the new relationship didn't develop any deeper.

Anyways, however people may hate it, I'm keeping Paige and Jono NOT being together, canon. I think Jono's passive overall attitude and self-consciousness just wouldn't fit Paige's ideal of a passionate romantic relationship; that doesn't mean I'm going to make them hate each other, I'm just going to keep them as canon, awkward acquaintance, for now. After catching up to the part when Paige and Warren are not together, MAYBE they can build something again, that's a big maybe, and we wouldn't get there till a very, very longgggggggggggg time, so I'm just being clear that Jono/Paige won't happen any time soon, might not even happen, so don't wait for it.

_3. Where exactly was the hospital Sean was staying at?_

You got me! I totally forgot about _that_ specific detail until I was stepping back, viewing the story more critically and thinking more logically. The changes actually weren't made until the chapter was already posted for a few days, but it has now been done. Yup, LOGICALLY, when the X-Men rushed Sean into a hospital for immediate treatment of his wound, it would have been somewhere near X-Corps Headquarters, which was at PARIS, FRANCE. Even in canon, the hospital sign was illustrated as "hôpital", indicating their location. Well, in order to make Paige and Jono's visits possible (otherwise, wouldn't he just be sooooooo lonely?), I made the X-Men move Sean after he was stable enough. It was NEVER explained in canon just WHAT HAPPENED TO SEAN after X-Corps and before his death, even if it can be easily presumed that he stayed in Europe during the period, as it was never really written down in black and white, I wouldn't call this specific notion of mine altering canon; rest assure, Sean would be going back to Europe at some point.

Where Sean was staying at, actually lead me to a bigger overlook: time difference. I've also made changes about this issue after first posting. As Genosha is a fictional country, I used its model Madagascar and its capital Antananarivo as template, so when Emma was still at Genosha, she was 7 hours ahead of Sean.

_4. "He did not sulk, he brooded, very manly"?_

I have no idea if this line was original enough that if using it would be considered as plagiarizing; I fully intend to credit where it was from, unfortunately, I DON'T REMEMBER WHERE I READ THIS FROM, and I'm not even sure if it was the exact same wording, but it sticked and I thought it suited the situation. It was either a reaction from Angel or Spike (BtVS and AtS fic) or from Draco (HP fic), I can't be more specific than this, as I really don't remember. But like I said, I'd love to credit whoever phrased it like that, so if anyone knew where it was from, let me know! (Or let me know if it's actually common and no need to worry about the similar wording.)

_5. The destruction of Genosha?_

So yup, it's finally here! I didn't want to hold it any longer than necessary, as I do want to go into Emma's time during NXM, AXM, and NXM v2 soon. I hope the description of what happened in Genosha is believable enough. Is it altering canon? I don't know, as all we do know is that it was supposed to happen very fast, but HOW FAST? To me, even a single day of destroying an entire nation is considered fast. However, if it did indeed take a whole day, or say even just more than a few hours, I don't believe that out of 16,521,063 (number given in NXM #115) people, no one thought of calling for help, hence I put in the whole live broadcast thing, raising awareness of what was going on definitely had a higher change of getting rescue, just that according to canon none came (or was shown).

A few clarifications just in case people are getting hopes up for what I did not mean (feel free to still feel that way though lol): Emma's last words that was cut off, WAS NOT SOME SORT OF DYING CONFESSION OF LOVE. Well, family kind of love maybe, but definitely not the romantic kind. It was more like her admitting she had always admired how Sean insists on doing things the "right" way, stuff like that. Sean's despair was not 'cause he suddenly realized he had romantic feelings for Emma (and she was possibly dead); how I see it, Sean's feeling was more like how Logan felt during Second Coming, when he found out Kurt was dead. What's worse with Sean though, is that for Logan, he didn't HAVE THE TIME to explain to Kurt about their argument, but for Sean, he had months, he had gotten her calls, and he had let the chance slipped away. That was why he was angry and sadden by the situation, not because he potentially lost the love of his life, but a great, albeit still with flaws, friend.

_6. "two years"?_

How long exactly had Sean and Emma taught Generation X? This is a number estimated by myself, I'm afraid. I've read it from several places that comic world and real world year ratio are roughly from 1:4, 1:5 to 1:6 and varies. Generation X title ran a little more than 4 real-world-years, that makes it at least a year in comic, and during the run there was the "Six-Month Gap", so I rounded it up as 2 years. I did this because I don't want to simply put it as "years", it may give people the false illusion that they had worked together for ages, when they really had not.

14/09/09  
>Sammm<p> 


	5. Chapter 3

**Abbreviated A/N:**  
>This was originally almost a triple-sized chapter; after constant rereading, I decided to make certain content as an outtake one-shot (you'll know it when you see it, I think it's sort of obvious), and also chopped off some stuff and left them for the next chapter. The length now is shorter than a double-sized chapter, but is still longer than the previous two; hope you'll enjoy it all the same! Again, for full-on explanations and such, another NON-actual-chapter "Chapter" soon follows, so for those who have questions please read it! =]<p>

* * *

><p><strong>New Friends, Old Friends<strong>

"Oh thank heavens, his hand just twitched! I think he's awake! I'll go notify the nurse."

Sean recognized it as Paige's voice, and felt the hand that was holding his slipped away. He opened his eyes just in time to see her walking out of the door, and saw Jono sitting in a chair close to his bed, brows closely knitted together with concern. He was about to ask questions, but before his voice could leave his mouth, an immense pain rippled from his throat and to the side of his neck, and he remembered the grief he felt and the scream of agony he let out the last time he was still conscious.

Upon seeing his former students, he mentally cursed himself for his slow thinking: how could he have forgotten about the X-Men! He should have had a nurse call them and, like had her read out a note he would have written if he had thought of it in the first place, or something! He was sure that with the Blackbird, they could have gotten to Genosha in no time, and with the fact that the team had faced Sentinels several times, granted, the one attacking the island looked a bit different, the X-Men still had the most chance of handling the thing than any other organization; but instead of taking action and ask his former ally for help, he just stood in front of the TV like an idiot. WHAT. AN. MORON. HE. WAS! He began to open his mouth to inquire again, when he felt a hand gently rest on his shoulder; tilting his chin he saw Jono looking at him with sympathy.

_~Hey, take it easy there! No need to torture yourself even more. Here.~_ He handed Sean a small spiral-bound notepad and a pen, just when Paige walked back into the room. He scribbled his questions with the quickest way of asking:

**_Genosha?_**

Paige and Jono looked at each other, and Jono shook his head, _~Not looking good at all, sir. The whole nation is basically gone, just ruins and... bodies left. They also had problems finding Magneto's remains...~_ Well, Sean couldn't give a rat's arse about Magneto at the moment! He needed to know...

"Mr. Cassidy, Emma's alright, sort of... Dr. McCoy and Mrs. Grey-Summers found her. She's alive. Um... Just a little bit different..." As if sensing Sean's distraught, Paige provided the answer he was hoping to hear, and immediately he felt a great weight lifting off his chest, and let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding in. However, digesting Paige's complete answer, the relief was soon gone and the concern kicked back in, he jotted down:

**_Different?_**

_~It seems that she now has a new set of mutant powers. Beast calls it 'Secondary Mutation', he himself went through it not so long ago; he now looks more like a blue lion rather than a blue ape. They weren't sure how and why it happened, Ms. Frost just said it did. They did some tests yesterday, I believe they will be doing some further checkup today.~_

**_Yesterday?_**

"You've been out for almost an entire day, sir. After doing a quick surgery on your reopened wound, the hospital was going to notify us if you woke up yesterday afternoon, but you never did, so they called us this morning; it's almost noon now... Sir...!?"

**_I'm not in critical state?_**

"No..., but you need some more rest, sir; what if..."

**_McCoy._**

Sean made no further explanation, just made sure his former students understood he was firm on his decision and got up, getting ready to leave. He was sure that if anything happened to him while he was at the X-Mansion, Hank could take care of it, they had medical supplies over there after all. He was in the hospital for too long anyway; it was time to breathe some fresh air, meet a friend who almost died, and see if she really was fine with his own eyes.

* * *

><p>"Magnificent!" Emma was very amused to see how Dr. Henry "Hank" McCoy, code-name Beast, seemed so amazed with a simple movement of bending her arm, but when he didn't elaborate more, she couldn't help clearing her throat.<p>

"Ahh... Sorry dear, your new power is just so marvelous to examine. I can't believe I was so wrong and careless with my previous statement."

"What do you mean?" Did she have health problems after all?

"Oh, no, no, it's nothing to worry about. It's just that yesterday, I said your Secondary Mutation is an exoskeleton-like diamond form that covers your skin, or perhaps _is_ your skin, but I couldn't be more obviously incorrect, as a simple scale would have proved me wrong, though I wouldn't suggest you using a bathroom scale in this form, you would break it beyond repairable." Seeing Emma's slightly impatient expression, he quickly continued, "My point is, your _entire mass_ in this form, is all organic diamond. Not just you're surface skin, but every single organism your whole body is consist of!"

Okay, so her overall value was more _costly_ now, literally. Her molecule structure was now all matched up and symmetrical (but really, it would probably take a nerd to be able to appreciate this); she wouldn't need to worry much about being electrocuted in this form, and she could hit people harder. Yes, she could see some perks of turning into a humanoid diamond, but Emma was still not quite getting Hank's excitement.

"My theory is, no, in fact, I'm sure of it! When your organs and digest systems also turn into diamond form, for some reason they no longer had the need of consuming substances to support your body, which, I bet, was why you weren't dehydrated or starved before we found you in Genosha, and I think you know it much better than I do, you were berried in the debris for _hours_, without even proper air to breathe in! In this form, you are basically a living statue, one that can think and move. Think about it, a marble or wooden statue doesn't need to eat or drink, nor do you!"

_Nor could she **feel** in this form_, Emma realized bitterly; but past experiences showed Hank as a rather friendly and civil person, so she didn't voice her observation. She didn't want anybody to have a reason to see her as an unfeeling bitch.

Interesting though. She now had the mutation any less-willed model or ballerina would kill for, the perfect solution of keeping a fit figure, HA! She didn't miss the fact that she could also practically live forever in this form, now she just needed to find a reason worth living that long... A new set of students perhaps?... Ahh... and also...

"Hank, what would happen to the particles afterwards, the ones that are removed from me when I'm in this form?"

"Pardon...?"

"Do they stay diamond?"

"Well, it's hard to say. I'd like to say we could test that out, but you are kind of near indestructible like this, and I don't feel confident or comfortable to point a laser gun at you... Ahh... Owells, you got your answer!" Emma had plucked a single strand of hair in her diamond form, and quickly changed back to flesh form; the hair, however, did not change back.

"As interesting as the question may be, may I know what your intention is about this little experiment?"

"I am a teacher, but I'm also a _businesswoman_."

"... I wasn't aware you were... in need of earning money, _extra or not_." Way to put it mildly, Hank.

"I'm not in dire need, no; but like I said, I'm a businesswoman: I don't miss the opportunity when I see one. Better safe than sorry. So Hank, let's make this a side-project of ours, shall we? Do me a favor and see if you can tell this strand of diamond used to be a strand of hair, and more importantly, _if it can be traced back to me_. Can it bland in with any other diamond? If the results are safe and agreeable, I'll share you 25% of my eventual profit from this revenue. What do you say?"

"Um, sure? By the way, I noticed how you said 'side-project', so I presume you'll be staying here at the school? Taking a teaching post, perhaps?"

"I would love to, only if you guys will have me."

"Of course we'd have you! I don't think we've expressed our gratitude enough! If not for your quick thinking and action yesterday, that horrible woman could have gotten away! I shudder to think of the consequences if that _were_ to happen."

"You need not thank me, Hank; after all, Charles was the one that _put a bullet in her head_ that effectively stopped her. Though I have to say... I was honestly surprised about his action, seemed a bit harsh for his taste... Nonetheless, if he _hadn't_, I promise you, I would have hunted her down and made sure she _stays_ down all the same. I wouldn't have let her get away with her crimes... Not after what she did to Genosha... Not after what she did to my students... " Emma hardened into diamond form subconsciously and spoke all so fairly quietly, but the hatred towards Cassandra Nova could be clearly heard.

"Now that you mentioned it, the way the Professor handled it does seem a bit out of character... But I supposed... it's like you said, _'there are some things some people just aren't supposed to get away with'_? I'm sure it was the last resort or he wouldn't have done it. Speaking of which... Do you want to talk about it? About what exactly happened?"

"Genosha? There's not that much to tell, really. It was an ordinary day, I was teaching as usual; there were no signs or warnings, and then it was suddenly chaos everywhere. We never stood a chance, Hank; if this so-called Secondary Mutation didn't miraculously suddenly happen upon me, I wouldn't even be here, either." She left out her phone-call to Sean, for it was just too personal in her point of view.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, Emma; but that's not what I'm asking about." Seeing her puzzled look, he softly asked, "Do you want to talk about what happened with Generation X?"

* * *

><p><strong>◇ XX ◇ XX ◇ XX ◇<strong>

* * *

><p>The talk really helped; Emma never realized she was keeping so much grief about Generation X's disbandment inside her, it felt good letting the anger out.<p>

"... And Hank?" She paused, never feeling this embarrassingly young and inexperienced with gratitude, "Thank you." For giving her the chance to prove herself, for guiding her out of the endless cycle of self-loathing, so that she could finally start anew.

"Don't mention it. I'm really looking forward to having someone intellectually stimulating; you should probably know that not a lot of X-Men are actual qualified teachers... more like available combat and field instructors, so it's nice for a change. While we're at the topic, have you decided on what subjects you'll be teaching?"

"I'd like to teach English, the art of the _proper_ way to speak and write... I really can't stand the slangs nowadays. I can also teach business for upperclassmen, as I do have a minor degree in Business Administration. I'm a certified sex therapist as well, though I would like to think the students here are too young for it (no, I refuse to teach Sex-Ed; I don't want to deal with hormonal teenage boys), but if any of the faculty needs help, well, I'll be there."

"I see; you would be a wonderful business teacher, but let's save the English class as an option for the lesser qualified X-Men, for now anyways. I was thinking, why don't you also teach _ethics_?"

Emma looked at him with such an expression of disbelief, as if seeing his fur suddenly turned pink and him growing four extra limbs: just ridiculous. She promptly feared for Hank's sanity.

"Now, don't look at me like that! I think it's a marvelous idea!"

"I hardly think the other faculty members will approve this arrangement."

"Why not? I think you are more than suitable for the subject; like you said, some of us may lean too much towards idealism, with that, it's hard for us to teach the students how to act and react realistically; you, on the other hand, have played both parts on what are generally considered as 'good' and 'bad', you understand how both parties think, you can teach them how to analyze, you can help them understand the fine lines between wrong and right decisions, and that some undesired choices are needed in certain circumstances. I really think you can do it." He explained encouragingly, and with all the positive energy radiating from him, Emma couldn't help but agreeing, "Alright, I'll do it, but if anyone complains, you'd better make it known that _you_ came up with this idea."

"With pleasure. Now, with that solved, have you gotten to know the other X-Men a little more?"

"Besides you, I'm afraid I haven't." She admitted she was glad that she wouldn't be facing Ororo Munroe any time soon; their history with each other would take a lot more time to get over with, dealing with her right now would be a disaster easily foreseen from a mile away. Emma did feel sorry that she wouldn't get to work with Piotr Rasputin, for he sacrificed himself to release the cure of the Legacy Virus, and with that he was automatically placed one of the top X-Men she respected. She supposed she could approach Kurt's team, as he seemed like a gentle soul that wouldn't jump into judging too quickly; plus Drake was on that team, she could check if that _popsicle_ had matured since they last met; okay, so Kurt's team it was.

"I was thinking, as we were notified earlier today that something fishy is going on in Hong Kong... One of our associates, Risque, was killed; we were requested to help investigating, would you care to join us? Jean still hasn't fully recovered from her use of powers yesterday, it'll be a good chance for you to tryout our team, get a feeling of how being a team player is like."

So much for getting acquaintance with Kurt's team. Owells, with Hank, it couldn't be that bad, could it?

"Very well, when are we leaving?"

"Tonight, so that during flight we can sleep to avoid jet lag when we arrive. You'll have the whole afternoon to pack and wander around the campus! Now, let me just take this strand of diamond to run some more tests for our side-project, and I'll leave you to prepare for our upcoming mission, alright?" Emma nodded, handing over her diamond strand of hair, and bade good-bye. Her lips curled upwards as her thoughts went over their conversation and how positive her adorable colleague was, maybe joining the X-Men was an excellent move after all. As she smiled to herself, she abruptly sensed feelings of concerns and worries; looking up towards the infirmary entrance, she sighed, "Come in, Jubilation; I can hear your thoughts and they are starting to give me a headache."

* * *

><p>"You know it's not nice to read people's minds without their permission?" Jubilee grudgingly did as she was told and walked into the infirmary, facing her former teacher.<p>

"And since when was I known to be _nice_?" Emma replied mockingly.

"Oh give it a rest; you know what I mean!" Jubilee grunted impatiently. They stood still just staring at each other, until after what seemed like hours, the young mutant finally gave in and leapt towards Emma, locking her into a fierce embrace. "You're alright." She hid her face in Emma's chest, as an infant would do when seeking comfort from its mother.

"... That I am, child." The telepath felt tears on her skin, thus padded the girl on the head, just a little awkwardly, not quite familiar with expressing affection just yet.

"I'm sorry we never bothered contacting you."

"... Don't worry about it, it's all in the past." Emma seriously didn't blame any of them for not keeping in touch, as she didn't expect them to understand her actions to begin with.

"I'm just... sorry that we didn't try to see it other from our point of view... We were just so excited to grow up and thinking that it was finally our turn to be in charge of ourselves! ... We didn't think things could go wrong so easily, things obviously weren't like Danger Room sessions that when you fail you get to do it again; you die, it's game-over for reals. I don't know why I thought it would be any different from when I was a student."

"I'm sorry about Angelo. He deserved better." Upon hearing the mentioning of death, Emma couldn't help but to bring up the sad incident.

"He really did." Jubilee sobbed. What pained her the most was that to most of the X-Men, Skin was just another victim; they didn't understand that to Jubilee, Angelo Espinosa could never be _just another fellow mutant_; he was her best pal, he told her he would look after her. Back then she took it for granted, and now he was dead, they could never take care of each other ever again. She failed him.

Emma took in all Jubilee's thoughts and hugged her a little tighter, she wished she were there when the incident happened. Not that she felt the X-Men wouldn't understand, in fact, she was pretty sure they did, as they had held funerals for some of their dear teammates in the past; but most of them weren't closely associated with Generation X, so no matter how well they understood the feeling of lost, to Jubilee it would only seem like they were trying to placate and pacify her with pretty words.

"You know, I'm not a really religious person, but I have faith that Angelo _is_ a man of his words." Emma looked down at Jubilee, who looked up right back, "He may not be physically here with us, but I do think he will continue looking after you, from where he is now." Jubilee gave a small laugh. "... You really think so?"

"Yes, I really do; just don't tell anyone I'm capable of feeling sentimental." She teased.

"I just really miss him." Jubilee smiled sadly with tears still in her eyes.

"As do I. There's nothing wrong with that, but don't let his death be the only thing you remember of him. Never forget how energetic and spontaneous he was when he was _alive_. It's okay to grieve, you've seen me done so with the Hellions, but don't let despair become all the world is to you. You are a fighter, Jubilation Lee, I expect you to go back acting like the obnoxious firecracker you were in due time."

"HA!" The Chinese-American wiped the tears from her eyes, "You _are_ a fighter, now run along..." Before Emma finished her sentence, she was griped into a quick hug, "... and make _him_ proud."

"I will. Thanks, Frostie. I'll see you around, _someone_ has to keep an eye on you after all." She teased back.

"HA!" This time it was Emma's turn to laugh, "I'll be counting on you to do it then." She then did something that was totally out of characteristic (she still didn't know what came over her when looking back), and leaned forward, gently kissing Jubilee on the forehead. Feeling extremely self-conscious, she recovered quickly by adding, "Now _shoo_, before I _make_ you feel like your bladder's about to burst in need of using the toilet." Jubilee just left with a silly grin all over her face.

_Gosh, being an X-Man for less than a day and she was already becoming a gigantic sympathetic mush._

However, before she could think about it more, she was interrupted once more with thoughts that weren't hers, "People here really shouldn't make a habit of eavesdropping in the doorway. Come in, Drake, before I make you."

"Emma," Robert "Bobby" Drake, code-name Iceman, greeted semi-cautiously.

"Drake," Emma raised one of her eyebrows amusingly, waiting to see what business this young adult could have possibly brought.

"So I heard you gained a new look, translucent and all; now we're really _matching_." He turned all ice.

"Please, don't flatter yourself," She showed off her diamond form and taunted, "I'm, unfortunately, a lot _harder_ than you."

"Woah, WOAHHHHHH, did Emma Frost just make a really bad joke on my manhood!? Not cool, girl, not cool." He cried with mock-hurt, making Emma laughed again. She forgot how he had this effect on her, which was why she had taken a liking to him, not romantically of course; she had problems seeing him as a man, for she really just saw him as a carefree _boy_. Carefree, a trait she was envious of.

"It's good to see that you're faring well." He smiled.

"Awww, you sound like you actually care, Drake."

"Well, of course I do; I'm glad that you aren't dead."

"Way to make a woman feel important."

"No, seriously! It would be a tragic lost to the world for losing such an unconventional brilliant teacher!"

"Careful, Drake, continue this smooth talk, I'll begin to wonder if you're sweet on me." Emma smirked.

"Do I at least get a hug?" He smirked back, stretching out his arms.

* * *

><p><strong>Face-to-Face Conversations<strong>

On the way to the X-Mansion, Jono and Paige wasted no time explaining the events that went down a day before in detail; so far Sean came to the conclusion: this Cassandra Nova woman was truly mad. Period. He was a little surprised by Hank's revelation on how mutant would be the dominant race within generations; he supposed he should have seen the signs, as newer mutants were popping out almost out of nowhere, which was why he felt the need of forming X-Corps in the first place. He was proud of Emma for standing up to assist the X-Men, but he couldn't help but worry about Charles' action, and the fact that he suddenly decided to come clean to the whole world that the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning was actually a school for mutants; Sean just couldn't shake off the feeling that something wasn't right. He wasn't ashamed of the school, he just didn't think the world was ready to learn the truth. Before he knew it, he was in front of the school's infirmary, and what greeted him was the sight of Emma and Bobby Drake in an embrace; he had no idea what to feel about _that_, except that he felt a little bit grumpy.

_~Um, Ms. Frost?~_ Jono and Paige looked at each other, unsure as to what they were interrupting exactly.

"Jonothon!" Receiving the telepathic call, Emma slowly detached herself from the hug to face the doorway, greeting her former students, "...Paige,... SEAN!"

Any random grumpiness evaporated as soon as Sean heard and saw her exclamation. Her eyes brightened and sparkled, sweet Mother Mary, she actually looked ecstatic to see him! He pushed the small notepad and pen to Jono and started walking towards his former colleague whom he hadn't seen for roughly four months. He took a closer look, her hair was now way passed shoulder-length, giving a completely different feel comparing to when they first started teaching Generation X... And what in the name of leprechauns' tiny green pants was she _wearing_? How that 'X' shaped white clothe was able to _stay on_ her, he wouldn't know, and he briefly questioned the standard checkup clothes for the school.

"Um, I'll see you later, Emma. We'll have to talk about what to cover in our classes, and maybe plan some collaborations for assignments in the future." Bobby gave a peck on Emma's cheek and left; Sean had no clue where that sort of familiarity came from, surely they weren't _that_ friendly with each other, were they? And what did he mean about classes, was Emma going to teach _here_? He thought she didn't like X-Men's ways of dealing things...

"We'll let you two catch up!" Without waiting for a reply, Paige grabbed Jono and left the room as well.

The two adults left alone in the infirmary stared at each other silently for a few seconds, and before they realized, they were in each other's arms, unsure of who made the first move, but couldn't care less about the trivial matter. Sean berried his face in the crook between Emma's neck and her right shoulder, his fingers running through her long ash-blond hair. They had never been this close physically, and the only few times they had hugged couldn't even compare to the one they were sharing at present. Both times in the past were emotional, but that was about it; the first was him assuring her that the Generation X kids would be alright, that Emplate wouldn't get away; it was a brief and awkward at most hug. The second time was after he somehow helped her gain back her telepathy; it wasn't even really a hug, more like him putting his arms around her. But this... This was different. It felt _right_. It was silly, but he felt she was _safe_ there. _In his arms_. What nonsense, he thought, but continued holding the woman who had gone through a terrible ordeal a day ago all the same. Anyone who had been through that kind of crisis deserved all the comfort people around them could give, and no matter how tough Emma Frost might fool people into thinking of her, Sean knew she needed the support just as much as everyone else, and he was there prepared to offer her all that he got.

The embrace lasted what felt like at least half an hour before they let go and stepped back a little. Emma lifted her right arm and placed her palm behind her neck, a gesture indicating nervousness, something she rarely showed. The movement emphasized her wonderful figure, and Sean didn't know where to look as she was barely wearing anything, so he decided to focus on her face.

"... So... How are you?" Emma asked not unkindly, deciding to break the ice.

Sean opened his mouth and then closed it, mentally cursing himself for not thinking _again_: he should have kept the notepad and pen!

"What's wrong?" Emma walked back closer, only just registering the seemingly new bandages on the side of his throat, she asked worriedly, "I somehow thought you would have been close to recovery by now?"

_You have no idea how right you were._ Sean thought. Although embarrassed, he wouldn't mind explaining to Emma what happened in the hospital the other day; just that he wasn't physically able to do so right now. He ruffled his hair frustratedly, and right when he decided to head out then come back, to grab something he could write on and write with, Emma held his arm and said calmly, "I know you are a stubborn man, Sean, but I think perhaps it is time for you to finally give it a try."

He gave her a blank look that clearly said _'What are ye on 'bout, lass?'_.

"Why, telepathic conversing of course!" Seeing his expression darkened, she sighed, "Oh, don't be such a big baby! You can't argue how important silent operations sometimes are, and you should just be thankful that there are plenty of people around you that are pro at it! I don't even understand why you always make a big deal about it; it's exactly like how cops communicate through a radio frequency that only their people are supposed to hear! We would be taking through the channel of our minds, and only people who know what to look for can overhear our conversation, isn't that convenient or what?"

Sean knew Emma had a point, and the cop analogy actually helped persuading him a wee bit... He guessed he was just a very traditional man, and communicating telepathically was anything but traditional... As it was the beginning of the 21st century, he supposed he could loosen up his old insistence and give this modern(!) method a go... Just that although he was good at keeping people out of his head, but reaching out to people?

_~I don't know how.~_ He thought with a frown.

"Of course you do! You're doing it perfectly just now!" Emma encouraged; through out the two years they worked together, Sean had never compromised easily, so she wasn't going to waste the chance of a lifetime!

He was just about to reply 'Really?' when the side of his throat started to hurt again. DAMMIT! It was reflex! He couldn't help automatically responding with his voice!

Noticing Sean becoming frustrated again, Emma came up with another proposal, "You know what? I heard you and you're probably right, it _is_ reflex as you were responding to me, and I was actually using my mouth to talk. You'll be able to control whether to talk back mentally or physically once you get used to it, so we should _help you_ get used to it first."

Not liking the implication, Sean subconsciously scooted backwards a little, as if physically putting distance between the two would help preventing what was to come. Agreeing to try talking telepathically was one thing, as he wasn't able to do so physically after all, but having someone else's voice in _his_ head? They always said hearing voices was the first sign of insanity, and he never did like the sensation when people had tried it on him in the past; he felt his privacy was violated.

"I'm just going to converse with you telepathically! Is this about the privacy thing again? Look, all I'm going to do is _mentally_ talk to you; I won't go searching your most unspeakable secrets in your brain! The old me, the White Queen, probably would have, just because I could, but I have no reason to do so, so I won't... I thought you would know that by now." She said, somewhat disappointedly. Honestly, after the first few weeks of living and working together in the same school, who didn't know Sean guarded his thoughts most carefully? He even threatened to put her in a coma (not the exact wording but still) if she tried anything funny! She respected his request of boundaries, never taking initiating peeks unless his thoughts was just broadcasting TOO LOUDLY TO BE IGNORED, and after two years he still didn't trust her? Boy, she felt like all her efforts were wasted.

The moment Sean heard the words _'I thought you would know that by now'_, he couldn't help feeling guilty. He just didn't prefer hearing voices in his head, and it wasn't meant for Emma personally.

Emma looked up.

_~So are you saying, you would still react this way if it were Charles offering to talk to you via telepathy?~_ She questioned.

Dang, did he think out loud? He really needed to practice what thoughts to project and vise versa.

_~Well?~_

_~It's not ye. I just don't prefer hearin' voices in my head.~_ He restated.

_~So you trust me?~_

_~I do.~_ He answered without hesitation.

_~Good.~_ Emma smiled broadly, satisfied with the reply. _~See, this isn't so bad, is it?~_

_~No, I suppose it's not.~_ He wondered why he was so opposed to the idea before, it felt just like regular talking! Well, other than the fact that it felt way more _intimate_. Sean made sure he didn't let _that_ thought leak through.


	6. Extended AN 3

**Extended A/N:**

_1. Time-line?_

In case I failed to make it more obvious or memorable, this chapter happens **a day after** the distraction of Genosha: **the next day of** the events that happened in NXM #116, but before NXM Annual 2001 (The Man From Room X), and before NXM #117 (Danger Rooms).

_2. Emma and Hank's conversation? Outtake?_

How their conversation ended up being so long was not planned. When I initially plotted out the chapter, it goes like this: Sean's hospital scene, Emma and Hank's talk, Emma and Jubilee's talk, Emma and Bobby's talk, and finally Sean and Emma meets. All very simple, until I actually started writing, and Emma and Hank's conversation just kept flowing out of control. I don't think their conversation was unnecessary, in fact, I actually think if not Hank, someone else should have taken his place in canon; I thought how Emma just officially joined the X-Men in Annual 2001 and then #117 was really skipping a lot of stuff. Most X-Men at that time had never work on the same side with Emma, even Hank had only visited Generation X very briefly, so I feel that there should have been a talk before actually joining the team.

I ended up turning parts of the conversation into an outtake, because while I think it was important to happen, the content of it held too much reminiscent of how I explained about what happened to Generation X back in ch. 1, albeit this time way more detailed of the actual events and from Emma's point of view. It's not a must-read, but if you're interested as to what they talked about (content should replace the section of diamond shapes), feel free to read it!

I also felt it's a good way to show how Emma and Hank became so friendly with each other as it was shown throughout the series; for me, you got to be some good friends to be willing to spend time on an almost impossible task of piecing back every single broken body parts! As for the start of their conversation, just imagine it's the second examination after the one in NXM #116; I couldn't help writing it because I find the 'exoskeleton' comment very wrong, and I'm always very skeptical when I see her powers described as 'diamond-skinned' in canon.

_3. Emma and Jubliee's conversation?_

I do fear people will see their interaction completely OOC. Owells. I honestly believe both of them have softer sides, no matter how tough they act most of the time, and I don't believe they truly dislike each other, as I have never once gotten that impression throughout the entire Generation X series. Half of their conversation talked about events of Holy War, if you can't stand the time-line alteration, just ignore it.

_4. "don't let his death be the only thing you remember of him"?_

This section is more about what influenced me to write that specific conversation. It's not related to X-Men so could be skipped, but if you have time to read, please do. After writing it down, I couldn't help thinking that the general message was definitely not original, and for fear of subconsciously plagiarizing, I tried to recall where I could have gotten the idea from. I realized quickly that the idea was indeed from something I've read (an actual publicized piece of work no less), but **in another language**. **WARNING OF DARK CONTENTS:** the plot basically goes, there were two boys kidnaped at young age by two grownup psychopath, perverted bothers; the kidnappers realized one of the kids (the main character) was good at 'not getting caught', so they used the other kid as hostage and forced the main kid to steal stuff for them, meanwhile forcing the hostage kid to be a prostitute for male costumers. They were kept for ten years, until the hostage finally couldn't take it and attempted to suicide (failed), letting the main guy realize that things would never get better unless they did something, so he finally retaliated the two bastards and killed them. The main guy did not have any living relatives left, but the hostage guy did, yet when they reached the doorstep, his parents, being well-known politicians, refused to accept that their only son had not only become a male prostitute, but also now had AIDS: they rather believe their son died ten years ago. Being rejected, and still needing money for medication, the main guy (after ten years of building up great reputation) continued to steal for clients. Years later he met the main girl of the story and that's how the readers learn of this sad backstory. The main girl asked for confirmation whether he stopped thieving because the friend eventually still died, and the answer was yes. The main guy thought sometimes he really thinks his friend did not prefer to live at all, **which is where the influence kicks in:** the main girl asked if he could remember the time when his friend had smiled after they were no longer being captive, and the main guy realized that, yes, his friend had actually been happy after they had been freed. So the message was that although they had a very sad past, there were good parts, too, and one shouldn't easily dismissed them to focus on the anguish parts.

So yeah, although Angelo's death was really super depressing, I don't want Jubilee to only remember the sad incident; I want her to remember how happy and adventurous he was when he was alive. Great as my intention may be, I admit I'd probably would never thought of the idea had I not also read the work I shared above, so I'm crediting it right here: it is written in Chinese by a Taiwanese author, _Black Jasmine (黑潔明)_, the novel tittle is _罪愛_ (loosely translates to: _Sinful Love_), part two of the '紅眼意外調查公司' (loosely translates to: 'Redeye Accident Investigation Agency') series. Unfortunately, to my understanding, the series has yet to be publicized in English internationally, but for anyone who does read Chinese, well, I can only tell you I really recommend reading it; some of the characters from the previous series (continued to appear in this one) are basically like mutants, having different gifted powers (not all of them but some); it is a very intriguing story with lovable casts.

_5. Emma and Bobby's conversation?_

Yay! I managed to keep it short, almost exactly like how I imagined it when I first plotted it out. I think it's kind of sad that we basically see no interactions from the two during the NXM run along in other titles in the same period; only until the book was retitled back to X-Men that we see them talk again. They did have a little history with each other, which is why after reading Generation X, I can see where the shipping Bobby/Emma was coming from, but sadly I'm not into the idea. That being said, I'm not opposed to them having a decent friendship, and to be honest, looking back, I don't think Bobby has ever been rude to Emma all this time; even after AvX, his hostile attitude was only directed to Scott, so I thought maybe this is something that could be worked on, as I really think Emma needed more allies Dx People need to stop blindly hating her!

_6. "what in the name of leprechauns' tiny green pants"?_

Okay, I almost wrote down _Merlin's beard_ when realizing I was channeling too much from Harry Potter fics.**WARNING OF SLIGHTLY MATURED CONTENTS:** I can't help envying how easy it is to fit in HP's world, the phrase later morphed into Merlin's pants, Merlin's saggy old balls, or even Circe's tits by various fanfic writers, yet the expressions remain the same. I have no idea what Sean would have said in equivalent, so this is the best I could come up with. Do feel free to leave suggestions!

_7. Accents?_

I think the most noticeable accent that is missing is Sean's Irish accent; I'm not going to lie, although I enjoy hearing it in the 90s cartoon, I have no idea how to write it; even being familiar with all the Generation X issues doesn't make me more comfortable and confident of writing it. All I'll absolutely do, is changing the [ing] into [in'] and [you] into [ye] ; everything else, I'm afraid I would only ended up doing a poor job mimicking. If there's any experts on writing Irish accents out there who's willing to help editing, do let me know, otherwise, I'm afraid this is all you're going to get from me. I know that Paige is also supposed to have a southern accent, but I don't think it was written prominently whenever she talked, so I won't go making special adjustments.

14/10/04  
>Sammm<p> 


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